Optical back plane assemblies are commonly used in communication systems. These assemblies typically include a card cage which houses a plurality of circuit boards. Each circuit board has a plurality of electrical optical interfaces that must connect to each of the other circuit boards, for communicating with each of the other circuit boards in the assembly. Each circuit board typically has a plurality of transmit fibers that communicate with corresponding receive fibers that originate from other circuit boards. Each circuit board has a plurality of receive fibers which communicate with the transmit fibers of all other circuit boards. Prior to the invention, each of the transmit fibers on each circuit board is connected typically to point to a respective receive fiber of another circuit board. Similarly, each of the receive fibers on each circuit board is connected typically to point to a respective transmit fiber of another circuit board. This point to point connection system creates a large number of fiber optic cables in the rear end of the card cage that need to be connected together, for example, by creating a wiring type harness. Testing and rework becomes extremely difficult with such an arrangement. Additionally, if a wiring type harness is created for providing the point to point connections, a faulty connection in the harness may result in a need for replacement of the entire harness, as compared with the difficulty of searching the harness for the faulty connection.